The 'Donald Trump juggernaut' just reached new heights in a national poll

Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally raising funds for US military veterans at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa on January 28, 2016.
US Republicans scrambling to win the first contest in the presidential nomination race were gearing for battle at high-profile debate in Iowa, but frontrunner Donald Trump is upending the campaign by defiantly refusing to attend. Trump's gamble has left the presidential race in uncharted waters just days before Iowans vote on February 1, insisting he will not back down in his feud with debate host Fox News.Instead, the billionaire has doubled down, hosting a rogue, rival event for US military veterans at the same time that his own party is showcasing its candidates for president to all-important Iowa voters.
/ AFP / William EDWARDS (Photo credit should read WILLIAM EDWARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

Donald Trump, president and chief executive of Trump Organization Inc. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, waves during a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016. Trump, according to a flurry of early-state and national polls, is the overwhelming favorite of self-identified moderate and liberal Republican voters. Among more conservative voters, he often trails his chief rival for the nomination, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz. Photographer: T.J. Kirkpatrick/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Donald Trump, president and chief executive of Trump Organization Inc. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, speaks during a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016. Trump, according to a flurry of early-state and national polls, is the overwhelming favorite of self-identified moderate and liberal Republican voters. Among more conservative voters, he often trails his chief rival for the nomination, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz. Photographer: T.J. Kirkpatrick/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Protesters, left, are confronted by supporters during a campaign event for Donald Trump, president and chief executive of Trump Organization Inc. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016. Trump, according to a flurry of early-state and national polls, is the overwhelming favorite of self-identified moderate and liberal Republican voters. Among more conservative voters, he often trails his chief rival for the nomination, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz. Photographer: T.J. Kirkpatrick/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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The pollster's statement announcing its latest results described Trump's dominance in dramatic terms.

"Reports of Donald Trump's imminent demise as a candidate are clearly and greatly exaggerated. Like a freight train barreling through signals with his horn on full blast, Trump heads down the track towards a possible nomination," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

Malloy also said that his poll had a bit of good news for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R). A full 74 percent of Republicans said that Bush had the right kind of experience to be president, compared to Trump's 60 percent. But only 4 percent of the Republican voters responding to the survey picked Bush as their candidate.

"There is a 'but.' Trump's raw numbers are formidable, but he trails the pack on some 'from the gut' character measurements," Malloy said. "And the kind of bright spot that Jeb Bush supporters, few as they be, may grab ahold of. The former Florida governor polls best in the pack on 'experience.'"

The next presidential-primary state for Republicans is South Carolina, which will vote on Saturday. Trump has also led in polls of that state. A CNN/ORC survey released Tuesday found Trump leading Cruz 38 percent to 22 percent there.